Checking for recalls with the VIN

The terms are used interchangeably but mean different things. A recall concerns a defect that endangers safety or breaks the rules — an airbag that does not deploy properly, a line that may leak, emissions that do not match the type approval. The manufacturer must fix it, an authority supervises this in many countries, and the work is free for the owner. Anyone who ignores a recall supervised by an authority risks, in some countries, the registration authority prohibiting the use of the vehicle.

A service campaign — depending on the make also called a customer service measure, technical measure or field fix — remedies something that is not safety-relevant: software that causes a noise, a component that wears out sooner than intended. Such campaigns are often carried out at the next workshop visit without the owner receiving a letter. They too are usually free, but nobody pushes for them.

“Campaign” is the umbrella term manufacturers use internally for both. Asking a workshop about “open campaigns” therefore covers recalls and service campaigns at once — and that is exactly the right question.

Recalls rarely apply to a whole model. The vehicles affected come from a particular production period, have a particular engine, come from a particular plant or carry a component from a particular batch. Two cars of the same model and year can therefore be in different positions: one affected, one not, and a third was affected and fixed long ago.

The manufacturer keeps the list of affected vehicles by chassis number, and its system records for each number which campaigns are open and which are done. So only the manufacturer itself — through a check page or customer service — and the workshops in its network can say with authority whether a particular vehicle is affected. Authority websites show which recalls exist for a make and model, often with a production period; whether your car is among them they generally do not say.

The vehicle identification number (VIN) is in the registration document and on the car itself, usually clearly visible at the bottom of the windscreen. On modern cars it has seventeen characters, and the letters I, O and Q never appear in it — what looks like an O is a zero. Check the typed number twice: one wrong character and the query concerns another car or none at all.

Many manufacturers offer a check page on their website where you enter the VIN and find out whether a campaign is open for your car. Such pages do not exist for every make or in every country, and they move from time to time. If you cannot find one, the make's customer service or a workshop in its network is the way. Authorities also publish recalls, usually sorted by make and model:

In your account under “My vehicles”, each of your own cars has “Check for recalls”. It lists the manufacturer's check page where we know one, the authority pages for the country in your profile and, if stored, your VIN to copy. The links open the manufacturer's or authority's pages in a new tab; Carvexia transmits nothing, not even the number.

Carvexia never tells you that your car is or is not affected. We have no recall database of our own and check no vehicle; only the manufacturer can give that answer. The card shows you the way there, not the answer.

In many countries the recall letter is sent by the manufacturer or importer to the owners whose addresses it obtains from the vehicle register. That works as long as the car is registered where the campaign is running. With an imported car this route has gaps: a letter from before the import went to the previous owner, and until the car is in the new register, none can reach you.

On top of that, campaigns do not run everywhere at once. A manufacturer may start a measure in one market earlier than in another, or it may only concern vehicles built for a particular country. For cars originally built for a market outside Europe, the make's European organisation may not fully reflect their campaigns.

So after an import, have the VIN checked by a workshop in the make's network in the new country, ideally at the first service. Ask explicitly about open recalls and service campaigns, including those from the country of origin. For cars from outside Europe, it is worth asking whether the check also covers campaigns in the original market — and if not, who can.

Before buying a used car, the question about open recalls is quick to ask and yet rarely asked. Request the VIN, look it up on the manufacturer's check page where there is one, and ask the seller to obtain a statement on open campaigns from a brand workshop. Whatever a seller writes about recalls in the listing is among the seller's details — not checked.

An open recall is not in itself a reason to walk away: the work is free, and afterwards the car is no worse off than one that was never affected. But it belongs in your planning, because a workshop visit is needed and parts for large campaigns can take a while. And some recalls come with a restriction until the repair, such as not parking the car in enclosed spaces or not driving it at all. You want to know that before signing, not on the drive home.

Completed campaigns are recorded in the manufacturer's system and often on invoices or in the service book. Ask for that and file the confirmation with the car's documents. When you sell the car later, it answers the question before anyone asks it.

The surest route to a definitive answer remains a workshop in the make's network. It enters the VIN into the manufacturer's system and sees open and completed campaigns; if one is open, it books the appointment for it. Ask beforehand whether the check costs anything. An independent garage can tell you what it knows about recalls, but a recall is carried out through the make's network.

In “My vehicles”, “Contact an authorised workshop” leads to the garages in the directory that name your car's make in their profile, in the country from your profile. The booking request comes pre-filled: with your car, a request to check by VIN for open recalls and service campaigns, and the number if you have stored it. The directory does not say whether a garage belongs to the make's network — ask in the request. Whether and when it replies is up to the garage.

When the answer comes, ask for what you need to plan: which campaign is open and what it involves, how long the car will stay, whether the parts are available yet and whether there is anything to watch until the appointment. Get written confirmation of what was done afterwards. And for a safety question — such as whether the car may be driven until the appointment — call rather than wait for an email.